Style isn't everything, but the Life Ball without style - that would be nothing. On 17 July, Vienna City Hall will once again open its doors for the largest and most colourful HIV/Aids benefit in Europe. The rules, sorry: suggestions for good, colourful style are already in place.
Being chic alone is not enough. When Vienna City Hall opens its halls once a year for Europe's largest HIV/Aids benefit event, it should be as colourful and imaginative as possible, and most of the visitors manage to do just that. But not all of them. And because you can't get in wearing jeans, trainers and a T-shirt, the Life Ball style bible is there to help again this year.
"The creation of an exciting costume for the Life Ball should be seen as a signal against narrow-mindedness and bourgeoisie. Your appearance should be spectacular, opulent, glamorous, imaginative and also provoke conventions," reads the dress code guide.
The effort is rewarded with a 50 per cent discount on the regular admission price. "If your styling includes particularly creative symbols for the fight against AIDS or for safe sex, you have a bonus with the Style Police," the organisers also entice - and promise access to the VIP area.
A few months ago, numerous make-up and body painting specialists, costume designers, hairdressers, stage decorators, photographers and models were invited to develop a few creative ideas for this year's Life Ball motto for the style bible. In 2009, water took centre stage as one of the four elements, this time it's all about the earth: "Sow the seeds of solidarity".
Ruffles, corsets, ball gowns, wigs: The examples shown are baroque and pompous. The simplest costume is the motif of Atlas, who is known to be the bearer of the world. Apart from patent leather shoes and stockings, the gentleman wears only a large ball on his head. But the gentleman with the tight-fitting feathered dress and foliage headdress is also extremely stimulating.
(Christian Scheuss)
